Thursday, May 27, 2010

Meet America's new Tallest Man (16 pics)

Igor Vovkovinskiy named tallest man in America

Taking trips when you are 7 foot 8.33 inches tall can be a challenge but Igor Vovkovinskiy left his Minnesota home for the New York City set of the Dr. Oz Show to be named the tallest man in the United States by the Guinness World Records this week.

Vovkovinskiy took the record set by Virginia deputy sheriff George Bell by just a third of an inch. Vovkovinskiy came to the US from the Ukraine as a 7-year-old with his mother Svetlana twenty years ago.

The young man with a size 24 10-E shoe faces daily challenges living in a world where the average man is just 5 foot 10 inches tall. Just sitting at a desk at the Minnesota School of Business can be a task for the paralegal studies student.

Upon accepting the Guinness World Record, Igor said in a press release obtained by Digital Journal, "It feels good to finally have proof that I am the Tallest Man in America. Everyone is always asking me if I'm certain that I'm the tallest and I was never able to prove it. Now that I have this certificate to hang on my wall, I could finally show it!"

Standing 7 feet and 8 1/3 inches, Minnesota resident Igor Vovkovinskiy was named the tallest man in the United States by Guinness World Records officials.

"Igor had been on our radar for a while, so we were eager to measure him and see if he was, in fact, the Tallest Living Man in America," said Guinness World Records adjudicator Danny Girton Jr. "Following stringent Guinness World Record guidelines on measurement, we're pleased to confirm that Igor is now a part of record-breaking history." (Text: digitaljournal)